Chapters 10-14 Sam McCandless: Chris’s half brother from Walt’s previous marriage. He was raised in California and Colorado, so he didn’t know Chris very well. However, when he read about the homicide, he was pretty sure it was Chris. Sam went to Fairfax County Police Department to identify Chris and once he knew it was him, he drove to Maryland to tell Walt and Billie that their son was dead. Walt McCandless: Chris’ father who was a very successful with his job. He was NASA’s project manager who sent the equipped SAR satellite, Seasat, into orbit. In 1957, Walt was just out of college, married, broke, and had a baby on the way when he got a job for Hughes Aircraft. Years later, his marriage was in trouble and he and his wife separated. He started dating a secretary at Hughes, Billie. Walt got Billie pregnant and they had a son, Chris. Walt was a workaholic. He and Billie were working mornings, afternoons, and evenings. We later find out that his split from his first wife, Marcia, was not a clean parting. Long after his relationship with Billie, he continued to see Marcia in secret. Two years after Chris was born, Walt fathered another son, Quinn, with Marcia. Eventually, the divorce between Walt and Marcia was finalized and he made his marriage to Billie legal. Marcia: She was Walt’s first wife. We find out that she is still secretly seeing Walt while he is in a relationship with Billie and has a new family. She has another son with Walt while he was with Billie. Carine McCandless: Carine is Chris’ sister who is very close with her brother. They look very much alike and share many of the same views. Carine and her husband, Chris Fish, owned an auto repair business, C.A.R. When she was younger, she and Chris got mad at their parents for working all the time, but she now finds herself working fourteen hour days and is hoping to make her first million at an early age, so we see that her views have changed. On the night she found out her brother was dead; her husband came home and was acting very strange. When he told her, she couldn’t stop screaming and crying. Once she calmed down, she and Sam flew to Anchorage to collect Chris’ remains. Ten months after his death, Carine still grieves deeply and finds herself crying when she is by herself and ended up losing a lot of weight. Jon Krakauer: When he was young, he often fantasized about climbing more mountains in Alaska and Canada. One day while sitting at a bar, he decided he was going to climb a mountain called Devils Thumb. He was twenty-three when he quit his job and headed for Devils Thumb. He needed to get to Petersburg which was only accessible by boat or plane. In exchange for a ride north, Jon took a four hour wheel watch every twelve hours on a boat called the Ocean Queen. Once in Petersburg, he needed to get to the Stikine Ice Cap which is the base of the mountain. After three days of hiking, he had paid someone to drop off more supplies at the foot of Devils Thumb. Once he got there, he waited for days and the pilot never came. Eventually he showed up, but he didn’t see Jon. He dropped two boxes and left. The next day he decided to climb back down to the base. As he was climbing, the ice got very thing and he had to go back down again. He became very panicked because if he fell he would die. He realized the climb was over and the only place to go from there was down.
Sam McCandless: Chris’s half brother from Walt’s previous marriage. He was raised in California and Colorado, so he didn’t know Chris very well. However, when he read about the homicide, he was pretty sure it was Chris. Sam went to Fairfax County Police Department to identify Chris and once he knew it was him, he drove to Maryland to tell Walt and Billie that their son was dead.
Walt McCandless: Chris’ father who was a very successful with his job. He was NASA’s project manager who sent the equipped SAR satellite, Seasat, into orbit. In 1957, Walt was just out of college, married, broke, and had a baby on the way when he got a job for Hughes Aircraft. Years later, his marriage was in trouble and he and his wife separated. He started dating a secretary at Hughes, Billie. Walt got Billie pregnant and they had a son, Chris. Walt was a workaholic. He and Billie were working mornings, afternoons, and evenings. We later find out that his split from his first wife, Marcia, was not a clean parting. Long after his relationship with Billie, he continued to see Marcia in secret. Two years after Chris was born, Walt fathered another son, Quinn, with Marcia. Eventually, the divorce between Walt and Marcia was finalized and he made his marriage to Billie legal.
Marcia: She was Walt’s first wife. We find out that she is still secretly seeing Walt while he is in a relationship with Billie and has a new family. She has another son with Walt while he was with Billie.
Carine McCandless: Carine is Chris’ sister who is very close with her brother. They look very much alike and share many of the same views. Carine and her husband, Chris Fish, owned an auto repair business, C.A.R. When she was younger, she and Chris got mad at their parents for working all the time, but she now finds herself working fourteen hour days and is hoping to make her first million at an early age, so we see that her views have changed. On the night she found out her brother was dead; her husband came home and was acting very strange. When he told her, she couldn’t stop screaming and crying. Once she calmed down, she and Sam flew to Anchorage to collect Chris’ remains. Ten months after his death, Carine still grieves deeply and finds herself crying when she is by herself and ended up losing a lot of weight.
Jon Krakauer: When he was young, he often fantasized about climbing more mountains in Alaska and Canada. One day while sitting at a bar, he decided he was going to climb a mountain called Devils Thumb. He was twenty-three when he quit his job and headed for Devils Thumb. He needed to get to Petersburg which was only accessible by boat or plane. In exchange for a ride north, Jon took a four hour wheel watch every twelve hours on a boat called the Ocean Queen. Once in Petersburg, he needed to get to the Stikine Ice Cap which is the base of the mountain. After three days of hiking, he had paid someone to drop off more supplies at the foot of Devils Thumb. Once he got there, he waited for days and the pilot never came. Eventually he showed up, but he didn’t see Jon. He dropped two boxes and left. The next day he decided to climb back down to the base. As he was climbing, the ice got very thing and he had to go back down again. He became very panicked because if he fell he would die. He realized the climb was over and the only place to go from there was down.